Lions coach Jim Schwartz and general manager Martin Mayhew tap-danced around the specifics of the decision to cut talented but troubled receiver Titus Young.

"Titus is on another team," Mayhew said Thursday. "It's hard to start getting into descriptions of his character and his issues. I don't want to get into that."

Young, a second-round pick in 2011, was claimed off waivers Tuesday by the Rams.

"The decision to cut Titus was about removing a distraction," Schwartz said.

Mayhew was just as blunt.

"We made a big investment in him and it didn't work out," he said. "It's time to move on. One of the things we have to do as an organization is to know when it is time to move on and not hold on to a guy too long."

Mayhew was asked why they didn't wait until free agency to see if he could swing a trade.

"He didn't have any trade value," Mayhew said. "I didn't talk to anybody. I didn't call 31 GMs and try to get a seventh (round pick). I think it's my job to know what a guy's trade value is and he didn't have any."

Mayhew and Schwartz used the same word to describe the entire ordeal — disappointing.

"We certainly exhausted all of our resources in trying to keep him productive and in a team mode, but it wasn't successful," Schwartz said. "At some point, the player has to take responsibility to get that done."

Mayhew became somewhat terse when he was asked if this ordeal would make him more cautious about drafting players with character issues in the future.

"We have always been very diligent in researching character and injury situations," he said. "We will continue to handle that the same way."

That said, the Lions hired senior personnel director Brian Xanders, and part of his duties are to set up a computer database for pro and college scouting.

"He's been very helpful to us," Mayhew said. "He's creating a new database that's our own, designed by us to give us information we want specifically. It's going to be an important part of the process, more data-driven."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130208/SPORTS0101/302080350#ixzz2KJqVMg9G